Book match feeder



Nov. 26, 1963 H. B. NIELSEN BOOK MATCH FEEDER Filed Sept; 26. 1961 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR HELMER B. NIELSEN BYMr /W ATTORNEYS.

Nov. 26, 1963 H. B. NIELSEN BOOK MATCH FEEDER 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Sept. 26, 1961 mm vw mm ww S D 3 8 9w. 2 m \\\r I I 1 m V. I E n\ wm\ ww NW3 m k\ Q m6 E mm W6C wk K ww Nov. 26, 1963 H. B. NIELSEN 3,111,793

BOOK MATCH FEEDER File-d Sept. 26. 1961 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 l I I INVENTOR HELMER B. NIELSEN BY M vgqyzw/ ATTORNEYS.

Nov. 26, 11963 H. B. NIELSEN 3,111,793

BOOK MATCH FEEDER Filed Sept. 26, 1961 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 MOVING SLIDE 23 TO DWELL FOR SLIDE LOADING POSITION 24 AND HOLDER 2I IN LOADING POSITION.

MOVING SLIDE 24 AND HOLDER 2 TO LOADING POSITION.

RETRACTING DWELL FOR sum: 23 W SLIDE 23 FOR TILT OF HOLDER 2| RETRACTING SLIDE 24 MOVING SLIDE 24 AND RAISING HOLDER 2|. TO TILT HOLDER 2|.

INVENTOR HELMER B. NIELSEN ATTORNEYS.

United States Patent Ofi ice 3,1 1 1,793 Patented Nov. 26, 1963 3,111,793 BOOK MATCH FEEDER Helmet Eirkebeck Nielsen, Pembroke, Ontario, Canada, assignor to Eddy Match Company Limited, Pembroke, Ontario, Canada Filed Sept. 26, 1961, Ser. No. 140,869 7 Claims. (Cl. 53-1) This invention relates to apparatus for making book matches and more particularly to apparatus for feeding pre-selected numbers of match combs, usually pairs, to a booker wherein these match combs are cut to the required size and assembled in books.

Hitherto the feeding of the match combs to the hooker has been effected manually and all attempts to provide mechanism which would perform this function automatically have met with failure. This has mainly been due to the peculiar shape of the match combs, the bases thereof being fiat whereas the match heads are bulbous. Moreover, the matches in each comb do not remain in alignment but spring out on either side of the main plane of the comb. To overcome the obvious difiiculties in stacking a series of these match combs within a dispenser, it has been proposed to stagger the match combs so that the heads of alternate combs face in opposite directions. However, this has proved to be unsatisfactory.

It is an object of the present invention therefore to provide match comb feeding apparatus which will function effectively to feed match combs to a hooker.

The apparatus according to the invention achieves this object and the basic reason underlying the success of this apparatus is the provision therein of an arcuate magazine adapted to hold a series of match combs in fanwise arrangement with the match heads radially outermost. Presser means is provided to compact the match combs in said magazine and urge them towards one end thereof for controlled discharge. The said one end of the magazine is preferably spaced above a base member to define a discharge opening therebetween adapted to accommodate only a pro-selected number of match combs and slide means, movable through said discharge opening, may be provided to discharge only said pre-selected number of match combs head first for feeding to a match booker. Said slide means may have upstanding side flanges inclined downwardly and rearwardly to correspond to the shape of the match combs being discharged, a vertically movable gate member being provided to ride on said flanges thereby to restrict the discharge opening progressively as the pre-selected number of match combs is being fed therethrough, thus preventing a succeeding match comb from being pulled through the discharge opening by frictional engagement with the match combs being discharged. The outer wall of the magazine may constitute said gate member or the gate member may be mounted on the lower edge of said wall, the wall being mounted for free vertical movement.

The apparatus according to the invention preferably also comprises feed means for feeding successive bunches of match combs to the magazine and said feed means may comprise a pivotally mounted holder for a bunch of combs, means for swinging said holder through an arc in and concentric with said magazine, and means for inserting said holder in said magazine at the beginning of said are to receive a bunch of combs and for retracting said holder from said magazine at the end of said arc to deposit said bunch of combs in the magazine, the holder and the magazine being complementarily slotted to allow such interaction. The presser means mentioned above may comprise primary and secondary presser means, the primary presser means being, for example, a bar or plate adapted to be releasably latched to the holder, to be retracted from and inserted into the magazine along with said holder and to be freed from said holder after insertion to press on the newly inserted combs, and the secondary presser means being, for example, a set of fingers and means for operating same in timed relation to said primary presser means whereby said secondary means presses on the newly inserted combs while said primary presser means is not pressing thereon. It is thus ensured that the match combs in the magazine are compacted at all times and urged towards the discharge end of the magazine. If the pressure is not maintained on the combs at all times the combs may spring upwardly at their outer ends and disturb the efiicient functioning of the apparatus. The uppermost combs of the newly inserted bunch may, in fact, flip over backwards and slide down behind the lower combs. This, of course, is intolerable.

The means for effecting the desired movements of said holder may comprise cam-operated slide members.

An embodiment of the invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a rear perspective view of an assembly incorporating the novel feding apparatus of the present invention,

FIGURE 2 is a longitudinal crosssection through the feeding apparatus, showing the magazine and the holder with bunches of match combs therein,

FIGURE 3 is a perspective view of the holder and the block on which it is mounted,

FIGURE 4 is a plan View of the feeding apparatus,

FIGURE 5 is a plan view of the cam shown in FIG- URES 2 and 4,

FIGURE 6 is a section on the line 6-6 of FIGURE 3, and

FIGURE 7 is a section on the line 77 of FIGURE 3, showing the means for releasably latching the primary presser means to the holder.

As shown in FIGURE 1 a stack of match comb trays 10 containing match combs 11 is located beside the feeding apparatus of the present invention designated generally as 12. Successive match comb bunches 13 are conveyed from the trays 10 to the apparatus 12 by means of an overhead sliding carriage 14 having a pair of gripper jaws 15. The combs 11 are held in fanwise bunches 13 in the trays 10 by any suitable arrangement such as inclined partitions or substantially V-shaped troughs, the trays and the grippers 15 being vertically slotted so that a hydraulically operated lifting member (not shown) can pass upwards through a tray to lift a bunch of match combs into position between the gripper jaws and allow the jaws to close before being retracted downwards again through the tray. Any suitable means may be provided for actuating the grippers 15 and for advancing the trays stepwise to position successive bunches 13 below the travel path of grippers 15. It is believed that the design of suitable mechanism for these purposes is well within the ability of those skilled in the art and accordingly no further explanation of this mechanism will be given herein. The combs are fed in pairs from the apparatus 12 to a conveyor 16 which in turn feeds them to a hooker, not shown. Here the combs are cut to the required size and secured in books.

The feeding apparatus 12 will now be described in detail with reference to FIGURES 2 through 7. As shown in FIGURE 2 the apparatus comprises a frame 17 having side walls 18 and a base 19; an arcuate magazine 20; holder 21 for receiving a match comb bunch 13 from the jaws 15 and depositing it in the magazine 20; a slide 22 for discharging pairs of combs 11 from the magazine; slides 23 and 24 for operating the holder 21; a primary presser means in the form of a bar of plate 25 and a secondary presser means in the form of a series of fingers 3 26. adapted alternately to press the combs in the magazine towards the base 19; and drive means for the apparatus, hereinafter described in detail.

The magazine 20 consists of a fixed series of inner arcuate transversely spaced plate sections 27 and a swingably mounted outer plate 28. Lying between the plate 1 train a succeeding comb and draw it also under the plate 28. To eliminate this possibility, therefore, the plate 28 is swingable mounted to act as a floating gate. To control the height of plate 28 above the base 19 the slide 22 is provided with two upstanding side flanges 32 which taper downwardly and rearwardly to correspond to the natural slope of the upper surface of a pair of match combs and the plate 28 rests adjustably on said flanges 32 by means of screws 33 threaded through a forward projection 34 secured to the lower end of the plate 28. Thus as slide 22 moves forwardly discharging a pair of match combs from the magazine 20 the plate 2-8 riding on flanges 32 progressively approaches the base 13 to restrict the ,discharge opening from the magazine and prevent the passage of other combs.

As clearly shown in FIGURE 3 the holder 21 comprises base 35 and outwardly diverging front and rear walls 36, 37 respectively which are slotted as at 38, the whole being mounted upon a block 39 having an aperture 40 adapted to receive a pivot pin 41. Slide 23 has two forwardly extending projections 42 (FIGURE 2) having aligned apertures 43 adapted to receive pin 41 and the block 39 is recessed at 44 to accommodate the projections 42, whereby the block may be pivotally mounted on slide 23. The plate sections 27 of magazine 20 are transversely spaced, as stated above to accommodate the solid portions of walls 36 and 37 and presser plate 25, which is slotted similarly to the walls, so that the holder and presser plate can swing relative to the magazine 20. In the present embodiment the holder 21 is adapted to hold 20 combs. The block 39 is also recessed at 45 to accommodate a plate 46 which is screwed down onto the block and has a pair of rearwardly extending projections47 having aligned apertures48 to receive a hinge pin 49 (FIGURE 2). The forward end of slide 24 has a link 50 pivotally connected thereto by hinge pin 51, said link being adapted for insertion between projections 47 and having an aperture at its forward end to receive hinge pin 49, whereby the block is pivotally linked to slide 24.

Two portions 52 are cut out of the block 39 and are rounded at the top so that they can pivot on pin 41 relative to the remainder of block 39. The presser plate 25 is secured to these block portions 52. and a spring 53 is coiled around the pivot pin 41 and is bent transversely at one end to engage the forward face of block 39, the other end engaging the rear face of presser plate 25, urging same apart. Thus, the plate 25 is constantly urged towards the bottom of the magazine 20 to press on the combs therein. One of the block portions 52 has a section of its length severed off to accommodate spring 53. Of course, two such springs 53 may be provided, in which case both portions 52 would be severed.

Finally, as shown clearly in FIGURE 7, the upper surface of the block 39 is recessed at 54 and a hook 55 is pivotally mounted on a screw 56 in recess 54 to extend forwardly of the leading face of block 39 so that when the holder 21 reaches the bottom of its downward swing the hook will engage the edge of one of the slots in the plate 25,-the leading edge of the hook being bevelled so that it will swing outwardly on engagement with the rear face of plate 25 and will swing back under the action of a spring 57 to hook the plate to the holder. Thus when the holder is retracted from magazine 20, pivoted upwards and reinserted in the magazine, the plate 25 will be carried with it. On reinsertion into the magazine, the hook is released from the plate 25 by engagement of a downward extension 58 of the hook with a laterally inclined face 59 of an upstanding abutment 60 screwed onto the base 19. Release of the hook allows the plate to swing downwardly in magazine 20 under the actionof spring 53 to press on the newly inserted combs. The retraction of holder 21 and plate 25 from the magazine 20 is effected by slide 23 moving to the right as viewed in FIGURE 2. A lever 61 (FIGURE 4) is pivotally mounted intermediate its ends on a vertical pivot 62 on base 19 and the inner end of the lever is disposed in the path of an upstanding abutment 23a on slide 23. A spring 63 extends between this lever and an abutment 64 on a side wall 18 to urge the lever in clockwise direction as seen in plan. The lever 61 is connected at the outer end thereof by a link 65 to a lever arm 66 connected through gearing 67 to a series of fingers 260m a transverse rod 68 pivotally mounted in aligned apertures in the side walls 13. Thus, as slide 23 moves to the right in FIGURE 2 to retract holder 21 and plate 25 from magazine 20 it allows the inner end of lever 61 to move to the right also and causes clockwise rotation of auxiliary presser fingers 26to press on the newly inserted combs. When plate 25 is again inserted into magazine 20 by movement of slide 23 to the left, lever 61 is caused to return to the position shown in FIGURE 4 and the auxiliary presser fingers 26 are thus raised clear of the magazine once again, plate 25 resuming its function ofpressing on the newly inserted match combs.

Slide 22 has two upstanding side posts 22a by means of which the slide is reciprocated by rotating eccentrics 69 via sleeves 7 8 and links 70. Slides 23 and 24 are reciprocated by a rotating wheel 71 having two cam tracks 72 and 73 engaged by cam followers 74, 75 on slides 23, 24, respectively. Both eccentrics 69 and wheel 71 are driven from a common drive shaft 76. In the present embodiment the holder 21, as previously stated, accommodates twenty match combs, i.e. ten pairs, the eccentrics 69 are driven directly by shaft 76 at 40 r.p.m. and the wheel 71 is driven through gearing 77 at 4 r.p.1n.,' thus ensuring that the slide 22 discharges afull load of combs in the timeit takes slides 23 and 24 to move holder 21 between successive unloading positions. It is preferred that three or four pairs of combs still remain in the magazine when a fresh load is deposited and forthis reason three or four extra pairs of combs are included in the first load placed in holder 21.

The layout of the cam tracks 72, 73 in wheel 71 is clearly shown in FIGURE 5, from which it will be seen that, starting with the holder 21 loaded, slide 2.3 is held stationary through a rotation of wheel 71 while slide 24 is moved forwardly to tilt holder 21 down to unloading position in the magazine 20, the book 55, of course, engaging presser plate 25 in this position. The slides 23 and 24 are then retracted together to retract holder 21 and plate 25 from the magazine, auxiliary presser fingers 26 being moved down topress on the newly inserted combs as hereinbefore described. The retraction of slide 23 is terminated after a 70 rotation of wheel 71 and the slide is moved forwards again. However, slide 24 and, of course, link 50 continue to retract for a further 15", thus pivoting holder 21 and plate 25 upwardly. The slides 23 and 24 then move forwardly together to reinsert the holder 21 and plate 25 in the magazine, plate 25 automatically being released and fingers 26 raised as already described. Finally, both slides 23 and 24 are held stationary through a 110 rotation of the wheel 71 to allow holder 21 to be reloaded, whereupon the cycle recommences, slide 22 reciprocating all the while todischarge pairs of match combs from the bottom of the magazine 20 for feeding to the booker.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. Match comb feeding apparatus comprising a base.

an arcuate magazine of match comb width adapted to hold a load of match combs in fan-wise arrangement with the match heads radially outermost, a movable gate member, said base and said movable gate member defining an adjustable discharge opening therebetween adapted to accommodate only a preselected number of match combs, presser means extending across the full width of said magazine for urging match combs in said magazine toward said base; and slide means movable through said magazine to discharge only said preselected number of match combs head first for feeding to a match hooker.

2. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said slide means has at least one upstanding side flange inclined downwardly and rearwardly and wherein a vertically movable gate member rides on said flange to close off said discharge opening as said slide means moves therethrough to discharge said preselected number of match combs.

3. Apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein said gate member is mounted on the lower end of an outer wall of said arcuate magazine and said Wall is freely mounted for arcuate swinging movement.

4. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein feed means is provided for feeding successive bunches of match combs to said magazine, said feed means comprising a pivotally mounted holder for a bunch of combs, means for swinging said holder through an arc concentric with said magazine, and means for inserting said holder into said magazine at the beginning of said arc to receive a bunch of combs and for retracting said holder from said magazine at the end of said are to deposit said bunch of combs in the magazine, said holder and said magazine being complementarily slotted to allow such interaction.

5. Apparatus as claimed in claim 4, wherein said presser means comprises a primary presser means adapted to be retracted from and inserted into the magazine along with said holder and to be freed from said holder after insertion to press on the newly inserted combs, and a secondary presser means, and means for operating same in timed relation to said primary presser means, whereby said secondary presser means presses on the newly inserted combs while said primary presser means is not pressing thereon.

6. Apparatus as claimed in claim 4, 'wherein said means for swinging the holder comprises a first reciprooable slide member and a link pivotally connected at one end to said slide member and at its other end to said holder radially outward of the pivotal mounting thereof, and said means for inserting and retracting the holder comprises a second reciprooable slide member connected at one end to the pivotal mounting of the holder to reciprocate same, drive means being connected to the other ends of both said slide members to reciprocate same in timed relationship.

7. Apparatus as claimed in claim 6, wherein said drive means is a wheel having two cam tracks therein and a pair of cam followers is provided, one on each of said slide members and engaging one in each of said tracks.

Smith Dec. 31, 1912 Jahne Aug. 2, 1932 

1. MATCH COMB FEEDING APPARATUS COMPRISING A BASE, AN ARCUATE MAGAZINE OF MATCH COMB WIDTH ADAPTED TO HOLD A LOAD OF MATCH COMBS IN FAN-WISE ARRANGEMENT WITH THE MATCH HEADS RADIALLY OUTERMOST, A MOVABLE GATE MEMBER, SAID BASE AND SAID MOVABLE GATE MEMBER DEFINING AN ADJUSTABLE DISCHARGE OPENING THEREBETWEEN ADAPTED TO ACCOMMODATE ONLY A PRESELECTED NUMBER OF MATCH COMBS, 